Bells
by InsertEpicPenNameHere
Summary: One of the 100 themes me and eifi are doing. NaruHina oneshot. Hatred of bells slowly turned to love of them due to this one woman...


Naruto hated the sound of bells. Detested, despised, abhorred, loathed and whatever other word for hate there was. It was bells that rang so loudly signifying it was time for all the other children to return to their parents. The bells that had all the other children whoop with joy and him all alone. Always alone. The bells were the painful reminder that he had no parents there for him, the bells that said it's time to return to being alone.

Sure, the kids at the Academy were not nice to him. Everyone was made fun of him apart from that shy, stuttering girl called Hinata. Despite her belonging to such a proud clan and having such a large family to support her, he got the feeling that she was as alone as him. No one ever walked her home either. No one came to discuss her progress. And it was when he watched her walk off he truly wondered whether having no family at all was better than a family who didn't care. She sat alone during break times as well. It was always so strange because he was sure she could make friends if she tried. And she always said sorry even when she had done nothing wrong; like she was apologising for her existence. She wasn't confident or outgoing like the rest of the girls in the class.

Of course the teachers viewed him as some sort of a moronic prankster. But they gave him attention. They stopped him from being completely invisible. And bad company was better than none at all.

The end of the day was always hard for him to accept. That was why he was always trying to get a punishment. Because he didn't enjoy his solitude. But even past the bell ringing and evening setting in he would always eventually have to go home. Go home to no one.

He hated the doorbell of his small apartment because, unlike the school bell that rang far too much, it never rang. Cold, such angry cold silence expressed so much more, didn't it? It showed he was so unwanted, no one ever visited. He didn't even know what his doorbell even sounded like. It was what he dreamed about on those days where all his efforts seemed futile. He would curl up on his couch and vividly dream him being Hokage and someone finally using the doorbell. He'd wait till ridiculously late hours just hoping that the bell would ring. But in the end he would always trudge to his bedroom to reflect on another day spent alone as he fell asleep.

He hated both bells, the school bell for being too loud and his doorbell for being too quiet. Both in their different ways showed that he was alone.

Later on, when he became a genin, he hated the bell test Kakashi gave them. It was the ever poignant reminder that he was still weak, still had a long way to go before he even had the slightest chance of becoming Hokage. He hated it because, despite all the training he did every single day, Sasuke had gotten closer to acquiring a bell than he did. But in the end he was grateful to it because it was such a humbling experience. That was the first time his opinions of bells started to change.

It was ten years later when his opinion was refined again. Trudging weak and weary from a hospital after being discharged with no food in the fridge and too late at night to buy anything, he had truly felt his life couldn't get any worse. And then she came blushing bright red with his favourite type of ramen home cooked he decided life couldn't get any better. The best thing was that the doorbell rang. And it sounded so beautiful, just that simple sound. It symbolised the start of something new, something that had the potential to blossom into something amazing.

Opening the door to her face, lowered out of shyness, was a feeling that rejuvenated his whole body. The smell of her ramen wafting into his humble abode was enough to make him decide that Ichiraku's was only second best. Hinata, the name was sung again and again in his head. There was no judgement in her eyes whilst she gazed at his messy apartment, no narrowed eyes critically analysing everything in sight.

And he didn't know how she did it but she managed to cool the ever blazing fire within him. He was so at peace yet so alive at the same time. It was such an exhilarating emotion, one he had never felt before. There was not much conversation that time but just the quiet company of the purplish black haired woman was enough.

After she had left he had wondered if he had made her uncomfortable bit as time passed he grew to understand that she was naturally shy.

From that day onwards he loved the sound of his doorbell because it always symbolised the coming of Hinata.

It was now watching her walk down the aisle (towards _him_ his mind sang in ecstasy) in her wedding dress her head lowered, smiling shyly, truly the most beautiful woman on earth that he made his final judgement. The wedding bells chiming as she walked, he decided that bells were truly wonderful.

**A/N: Have mercy on my poor soul. I know it is pretty bad.**


End file.
